Service
Recruitment and selection
Help to find and select a team that fits the children, with safer recruitment treated as part of the job.
Children’s homes depend on the adults in the building. Fiveways helps you recruit and select people whose experience fits the children you care for, and helps you run a safer-recruitment process you can explain to Ofsted.
You are the employer. We do not employ the staff, we do not hold ourselves out as a licensed employment business, and the offer of a job is yours to make. This service is not part of property sourcing.
Who it is for
- Providers appointing a registered manager or deputies.
- Homes building a staff team before or just after registration.
- Managers who want a selection process that produces a defensible file.
What it addresses
- Interviews ask people if they “like children” and never test a safeguarding decision.
- Employment history has gaps nobody has asked about.
- References are late, and someone has already started.
- The staff file would not survive a line of enquiry on safer recruitment.
How the work runs
- Define the post What this role must be able to do with these children, written as a job description and a person specification.
- Attract An advert that describes the home honestly, including the demands of the shift.
- Select A structured interview and a practical scenario. Notes that show why this person, and why not another.
- Check Identity, right to work, employment history, references, and an enhanced DBS with a check of the children’s barred list where the role requires it. You complete the legal checks. We help you see that the file is complete before someone starts.
What you need in place
- A decision-maker who will sit in the interview.
- A job description that matches the statement of purpose.
- Time to wait for checks. Starting people early is a known inspection problem.
What you leave with
- Role profile, advert and interview plan.
- A safer-recruitment checklist for the file.
- Shortlisting support and, where agreed, attendance at interview.
Time and fees
There is no standard duration. The regulator, the planning authority and the condition of the service all change the timetable. We will describe what we can see, and we will not promise a date.
The fee is agreed once we understand the work. A short review and a full registration are different assignments, so we do not publish one price for every enquiry.
Questions
Do you supply agency staff?
No. We support your own recruitment and selection. We are not an agency sending staff to cover a shift.
Can you guarantee the manager will be registered?
No. Ofsted decides fitness. We help you test whether a candidate can credibly be put forward.
Why is this separate from property?
Finding a house and selecting a team are different professions and different risks. They are separate services here, and neither is buried in the other’s menu.
Next step
Tell us the role and when you hope someone will start. If the date is impossible once DBS and references are included, we will say so.
Talk to FivewaysRelated
Fiveways Advisory is an independent consultancy. We are not Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission or a local planning authority, and this website is not legal, planning or regulatory advice. We cannot guarantee registration, an inspection judgement or planning permission.